Wall Street Boos Google Earnings, as Larry Page Keeps it Brief

In his first earnings call as CEO of Google, the internet search phenomenon he co-founded 15 years ago, Larry Page did his best impression of the company’s iconic home page.

Very few words, quickly rendered.

“We’ve really hit the ground running,” Page said in comments that lasted 90 seconds. “I’m very excited about Google and our momentum, and I’m very optimistic about our future.”

Page said he is now running Google’s day-to-day operations and praised outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt, who is now executive chairman with a mandate to focus on government relations and corporate outreach.

Wall Street investors, meanwhile, gave Google a rousing Bronx cheer Thursday, after the company slightly missed earnings expectations. Google shares were trading down over 5 percent after-hours to $548.35, on a day that saw market indices down 1 percent early, before making back ground late in the session.

On the bright side, Google did report 27 percent year-over-year revenue growth. The company said that sales increased to $8.58 billion in the first quarter of 2011, compared to $6.77 billion in the first quarter of 2010. First quarter profit clocked-in at $2.3 billion, an 18 percent increase from $1.96 billion one year ago.

“The EPS miss was driven by higher than anticipated expense lines, which were primarily driven by higher payroll and increased advertising and promotional expenses,” UBS internet analysts Brian J. Pitz and Brian P. Fitzgerald, (aka Pitz and Fitz), wrote in a note to clients.

On the conference call, Google made no apologies for hiring aggressively, saying now is the right time to invest in labor.

“It’s clear that our past investments have been crucial to our success today–which is why we continue to invest for the long term,” Google CFO Patrick Pichette said in a statement accompanying the earnings numbers.

Pitz and Fitz have a “Buy” rating on Google shares with a $780 price target. (Update: on Friday morning they reduced their target to $765, based on “margin pressure.”)

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of what was generally a sleepy conference call, was the veritable love-fest directed at Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s Senior Vice President for Product Management, who is departing after nearly a decade at the company.

A fixture of Google earnings calls over the years, Rosenberg was known as a whip-smart executive with an intense focus on Google’s famous core search product.

Several senior executives praised Rosenberg effusively, with CFO Pichette even quoting Rosenberg’s mantra about how, as search improves, search advertising must improve as well. If it does not, users may click on fewer ads.